Exploring the Linguistic Patterns of Gratitude: A Comparative Analysis of Acknowledgments in Philosophy PhD Theses

Fatma Yuvayapan; Hayriye Bilginer

doi:10.33919/esnbu.24.2.9

Exploring the Linguistic Patterns of Gratitude: A Comparative Analysis of Acknowledgments in Philosophy PhD Theses

Authors

Fatma Yuvayapan Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University
Hayriye Bilginer Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33919/esnbu.24.2.9

Keywords:

academic genres, acknowledgments, linguistic conventions, gratitude, PhD theses

Abstract

Acknowledgments as expressions of gratitude are not only mere formalities in academia but also represent heartfelt attempts by researchers to acknowledge the support that shaped their academic journeys. They are a specific academic genre in which personal texts are produced as a part of academic genres such as theses or books. Hence, a systematic understanding of the linguistic features of this specific genre may contribute to the literature on academic writing. Comparing expressions of gratitude across English, German, and Turkish L1 academic contexts, this study presents a detailed picture of linguistic patterns in Ph.D. thesis acknowledgments in the field of Philosophy. We found that thanking for academic purposes was the main reason for gratitude in the three cultures. Our analysis also revealed the influence of cultural and linguistic nuances on the syntactic patterns of gratitude in the three contexts. We concluded that while acknowledgments remain deeply personal and emotionally charged, they adhere to genre-specific encoding patterns and share common lexical preferences, which require explicit instruction in academic writing courses.

Author Biographies

Fatma Yuvayapan, Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University

Assoc. Dr. Fatma Yuvayapan works as the head of Western Languages and Literature Department at Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University. She previously worked as the head of the department of Translation and Interpreting at Kahramanmaraş Istiklal University, Turkey. She has been teaching English since 2003. She has studied English language teaching, pragmatics, and corpus linguistics. She earned her MA in professional development and held a Ph.D. degree in corpus linguistics with a specific reference to academic writing. Her academic areas are corpus linguistics, academic writing and its linguistic features and discourse analysis.

Hayriye Bilginer, Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University

Assistant Professor Hayriye Bilginer works at the Department of Western Languages and Literature at Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University (Turkey). She studied German Language and Literature at Hacettepe University and was a recipient of the DAAD Scholarship at Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg (Germany) in 1991. Following her undergraduate studies, she worked as a certified translator and interpreter for German and Turkish at the Social Security Institution (SSK) in Ankara. She received her Ph.D. from at Hacettepe University, Ankara, with a research focus in Linguistics and Semiotics in 2000. She founded and served as the Director of the School of Foreign Languages at Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University (2010-2013). Her research interests include Contrastive Linguistics and Didactics, within the broader context of Communicative and Intercultural Foreign Language Teaching.

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Published

2024-12-22

How to Cite

Yuvayapan, F., & Bilginer, H. (2024). Exploring the Linguistic Patterns of Gratitude: A Comparative Analysis of Acknowledgments in Philosophy PhD Theses. English Studies at NBU, 10(2), 364–386. https://doi.org/10.33919/esnbu.24.2.9

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Vol. 10 No. 2 (2024)

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